Left 4 Dead
Posted 11/18/08 at 01:00:00 AM by Norman Chan
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Hide the children and shield your brains — zombies have risen to claim the earth.
We’ve relished the movies about it. We’ve daydreamed about it happening in our own lives. We’ve even drawn up detailed plans for how to survive the admittedly unlikely event of a zombie apocalypse (answer: barricade ourselves in the local Costco). There’s just something so tantalizingly thrilling about the prospect of fighting for survival in an undead-infested world.
Left 4 Dead, Valve Software’s new multiplayer first-person shooter, delivers that awesomely terrifying experience to us. Abandoned metropolises, a ragtag band of hapless strangers, and an endless horde of infected humans—all the staples of a nail-biting George A. Romero zombie epic—are present and accounted for in this ambitious cooperative adventure. But how does this game hold up to our obsessive zombie fantasies? We busted a few thousand undead skulls to find out.
Survivor’s Journal: How We Lived through the Undead Uprising
In the global zombie apocalypse of Left 4 Dead, our goal was simple: just survive. But reaching a safe haven in hopes of getting rescued was easier said than done. We had to navigate through the crumbled ruins of modern civilization and defend ourselves against a mob of angry zombies that would stop at nothing to see us dead. Luckily, we were never alone in this frightening fight for survival. We were not only always accompanied by three teammates (controlled by either real players or AI) but also equipped with a zombie’s greatest weakness: bullets. Lots of bullets.
Our nerve-racking journey was broken into four story campaigns, each consisting of five sequential levels. These “movies” all followed the same structure: The four of us traversed zombie-infested territory to reach safe houses at the end of each chapter, building up to a lengthy final stand while awaiting rescue at each campaign’s finale.
We started off in the No Mercy act, which challenged us to find a way to the rooftop of a hospital from a distant apartment building. As we made our way through dimly lit hallways and claustrophobic stairwells to the street, we caught our first glimpse of the infected masses—soulless husks of our once neighbors and friends. It was a mistake to agitate them; once alerted to our presence, a wave of the ghoulish goons swarmed our position. These common zombies were easy to put down with our assault rifles and shotguns, but their overwhelming numbers and surprising speed made them formidable foes. Zombies would climb fences, claw through closed doors, and crawl over any obstacle for a taste of our flesh. Shooting off their limbs wasn’t even enough to keep them down—the undead were impressively determined (a well-aimed headshot, though, stopped them in their tracks).
Frenzied shootouts were dynamically timed by the game’s AI Director to give us moments to catch our breath after a slaughter (see the sidebar on the next page). These welcome lulls in the mayhem actually added tension because we weren’t sure how much time we had before the next onslaught.
Even more frightening was the presence of five Boss Infected. More freakish than the common zombie ilk, each boss had a special ability to cause disarray among our group. The grotesquely obese Boomer vomited bile on us to attract hordes to our position, the stealthy Hunter pounced from the darkness to keep us pinned on the ground, the lanky Smoker snagged and strangled stragglers with his tongue, and the hulking Tank swatted us around like we were flies. The only way to stay alive was to work together, communicating frequently and calling out threats to avoid being caught off guard. The necessity for teamwork here is unmatched by any other multiplayer game, and the payoff for surviving the full campaign is incredibly rewarding.
Left 4 Dead
28 Days Later
Unrelenting zombie-killing action; satisfying cooperative campaigns; addictive Versus mode.
28 Weeks Later
Only two of the four campaigns are available in Versus mode at launch.
A fun game to play with
Submitted by Bender on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 4:01pm
A fun game to play with friends. The maps kinda got old really quick to me, but the concept of the game is insane. Hella fun!
Submitted by adeletwo6789 on Tue, 09/29/2009 - 11:24am
It would be nice if I could customize my desktop, but as I know from my experience,
computer
essay | abortion
essay | marketing
essay | narrative
essay | persuasive
essay
Submitted by gothliciouz on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 4:23pm
i hope valve releases more campaign as episodes, that would be awesome! ;)
Submitted by rayatwork05 on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 9:43am
the games fun for sure, replayability.....its fair value at best. no story line, limited guns and maps, no updates to keep the game interesting.
it's like playing a zombie movie, very intense, but its too much too often, and the game gets redundant very quickly. on the up side, easily one of the most balanced MP games ive ever played.
fun for an hour a day, no more.
xbox/PC version vary.
Submitted by SpazzAttack on Sun, 12/07/2008 - 10:04am
Welp, in normal difficullty, I played all four single player campaigns through a couple of times already. I can't make it all the way through a single campaign on the higher difficulty levels...yet.
My nephew is hooked on the multiplayer version. He loves it also.
Great for mindless fun! :)
Oh wow another zobie game....
Submitted by ghot on Wed, 12/03/2008 - 3:44pm
Yeah, I'm gonna rush right out an buy that .....NOT!
$10 off at GameStop......
Submitted by K0BALT on Sat, 11/29/2008 - 9:29am
I just went and picked up my copy today. I've only played about 2 hours so far, but it's freakin' awesome. i can't wait to play online. I was expecting to pay the $50 price tag that it was marked at, but when I got to the register they said it was on sale. WOOT!
Submitted by rlynker on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 10:05pm
So I finally played the level at the airport and waited to see that "747" crash in front of me. I don't know what kind of plane crashed, but it was NOT a 747. A 747 has 4 engines....the plane in the game only had 2 engines.....unless of course the AI Director is changing that each time as well?
Great review, nonetheless Norman. Love the game. Thanks!
The spattering
Submitted by ericmckenna on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 7:39am
I love the blood spattering across the screen. I only wish there was a key to wipe the blood off your face. ;) KILLING ZOMBIES ROCKS!
I agree with 10 out of 10
Submitted by Sonickid101 on Wed, 11/19/2008 - 11:53pm
Any game that keeps me and my friends forgetting time until 5am in the morning and f%&*!ing up my workday is a 10 out of 10. So I concur with MPC's verdict and everyone should own this game preferably all the PC version.
Kill a Zombie for Mombie
Submitted by squarebab on Wed, 11/19/2008 - 9:32pm
After repeatedly playing the single player mode I finally got some cojones and jumped into co-op. It was instantly apparent to me that co-op is habit forming. The more I played with my teammmates the more I felt responsible for their survival. No matter how many times you fail as a team (which means everyone friggin' died) the server puts all the same people back at the starting line to try again as a team. I felt bad having to leave before accomplishing our goal. During gameplay there was a friendly voice guiding us. It was one of our teammates, and I assume it was the team leader, but I have to play more to find out if the voice option is available to all. I still have a lot to learn about this game, but it will be fun wasting the hours away getting better. I hope Trey and Matt parody Left 4 Dead like they did WOW, because this game feels like it's going turn its players into the living dead from the same devotional excessive play.
you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but....
Submitted by wolf17 on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 9:20pm
I agree with your score of a perfect 10, it's a game with zombies that has a great deal of replayability! You need to work together to survive and if anything it'll prepare you for the real zombie apocolypse! :P hehe
Cool screenshots guys, who got the most headshots?
Idiot
Submitted by the_crowbar on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 7:19pm
Wow you are totally off-base man. maximum pc does NOT take bribes. They've been honest reviewers since 1998 and though they have made mistakes, they didn't do it because of money. They have the full copy! its called a REVIEW COPY. kinda basic. you'd probably know that if you knew what you were talking about.
Submitted by dragmasil on Wed, 11/19/2008 - 1:26am
dragmasil
Hey subjective
criticism
is ok but the editors of MPC and PCG play this game and they have spent a lot of time on it just wondering how much time you have spent on it? You really can not rate this game on the two levels that the demo provided which is why these guys got to play more levels as you can see in the screen shots.
P.S these guys get paid to offer their opinion take it or leave it but don't disrespect them.
Can't wait
Submitted by Azruelli on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 9:15am
I can't wiat until my next paycheck, I'm getting Wrath, L4D, and Fallout 3. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with the supposed map editor L4D ships with. So awesome.
Submitted by Mattrickc on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 6:57am
I fully back MPC for this score. I have played through the demo many times and absolutely love it. I have been telling all my friends about how much fun it is. It has been a long time since i actually got this excited about any game. I love how much you need to work as a team to get through it and the way it is different everytime you play. They truly did a great job, with so much blood splatter and the physics to the way the zombies behave, it really feels like you are fighting for your life. Ive even been playing the demo online on expert and repeatedly dying - and it was still fun - when was the last time it was fun to die?
Submitted by StealthSilver on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 5:08am
Online review seems a lot more in-depth than the one in the magazine.
Submitted by brokenmoth08 on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 10:44pm
They only mention 4 out of 5 bosses. What is the 5th?
Five bosses are the Hunter,
Submitted by willsmith on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 10:42am
Five bosses are the Hunter, Smoker, Boomer, Tank, and Witch. The Witch isn't playable, as she'd be much, much too powerful.
Submitted by brokenmoth08 on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 2:34pm
Thanks. What does she do?
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 11/19/2008 - 12:32am
If you bother her, she makes you pay. Bothering can include, but isn't limited to: walking too close to her, shooting her, making something near her explode, bumping into her, throwing something on her, shining your light on her, making a loud noise near her, or making a soft noise near her.
Basically she does a ton of melee damage, but she also has a small area-affect stun that basically dooms you when she's working on you.
Submitted by wolf17 on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 9:10pm
Did you watch the opening cutscene? It shows the Witch in that opening movie. It's a zombie who cries in agony and if you startle it (attack or shine your flashlight at for example) she will go after her attacker and then decimate your entire team! :P lol (at least that's what happened to me!). The witch is very powerful enemy as it doesn't take much effort on her part to kill you whereas it takes quite a few shots to kill her!
Submitted by brokenmoth08 on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 10:08pm
I'll look it up. Sounds cool.
Submitted by wolf17 on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 3:12pm
Yeah shes cool.. until she decimates your entire team! :) lol
Submitted by brokenmoth08 on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 12:47pm
Cool!
Submitted by soccer1105 on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 8:57pm
a perfect 10? i don't think so. I played the demo, and i'd give it an 8 at the most. no where near as good as half life 2, or call of duty 4. you sold out maximum pc. i really thought you were better than that.
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 11/19/2008 - 12:40am
I had a long post about this that got eaten, but I'll recap. The short version is that when you use a 10-point scale, and we need to be able to use the entire scale. With that in mind, a score of 10 doesn't represent a perfect product. If it did, we'd never issue any 10 scores.
Nothing's perfect, but products that typically receive a ten are the best in their class when they come out, without significant flaws, and usually push their industry forward in some significant way. After two nights playing the full game, I'm confident that Left4Dead does all of those things.
I wish it was a little longer, and I wish that there were more versus maps. However, I played three full campaigns tonight in Versus (1 hospital + 2 farms) and I think there's enough value there for the $50 the game costs.
Of course, you're entitled to your opinion, and there's certainly no shortage of awesome games for you to spend your gaming dollar on this fall.
So maxpc "sold out" because
Submitted by atomaweapon on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 8:22am
So maxpc "sold out" because they liked the game more than you and rated it higher? So everyone in the history of the world who thinks this game is a 10, fun gameply experience is wrong because you feel it's average. How cute.
Submitted by karnak on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 10:04am
You can never stop haters from hating.
True, but we could edit
Submitted by nedwards on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 11:30am
True, but we could edit their comments in amusing ways.
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 11/19/2008 - 12:33am
We wouldn't do that though, would we? I'd have to
yell at anyone who did something like that.give you a cookie and possibly some sort of a medal.
Good job, you rated the demo
Submitted by StormEffect on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 9:14pm
Good job, you rated the demo an 8.
Play the actual game and give that a rating while you are at it.
People are so obnoxious sometimes. What rating did you give "The Day The Earth Stood Still" because the trailer came out...I expect a review score.
What did you think of Windows 7? That Pre-Beta was lame, huh? Shouldn't buy it .
Lol, Im sorry but hes right,
Submitted by s3th on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 9:45pm
Lol, Im sorry but hes right, just like any other zombie game, for instance the Zombie Panic! Source game on steam, its the same shit, all the players crowd one area and fight the same zombies every game. Id give it a 8 just because it looks good and beating any new game on campaign is fun, but other than that it doesnt deserve a 10.
Its nuthing like eny zombie game on steam!!
Submitted by killerxx7 on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 3:07am
L4D is a complete new type of zombie game!You dont just sit in a corner and shoot,you have kepp moving to stay alive plus it realy does make you play teamwork and is absolutly amazing over lan the best i have ever played!Ok it should not get a full 10 but a 9 is well deserved!
Submitted by Digital-Storm on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 3:37am
Deserves a complete 10 out of 10. What other games have ya played where units will actually jump up and climb through holes in a cealing? Zombie Panic Source is a shitty mod for HL2 SDK Base.
Submitted by s3th on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 7:53pm
Forget all I said, I played the full game for like 6 straight hours today its 10/10 for sure, the AI Director is coolest shit. Lol
Submitted by wolf17 on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 3:13pm
Yeah the AI Director is really cool.. but it's also utterly merciless at times! (esp. on expert!) :)
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